site.btaRSV 421 Sails 20,054 Nautical Miles during 32nd Bulgarian Polar Expedition

During the 32nd Bulgarian polar expedition the naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) sailed 20,054 nautical miles, said Commanding Officer Nikolay Danailov on Wednesday in Varna on the return of the ship. The voyage lasted 149 days.

RSV 421set sail from Varna on November 8 last year. During the expedition the ship visited the naval bases of Cartagena (Spain), Taranto (Italy), Mar del Plata (Argentina) and the Argentine ports of Comodoro Rivadavia and Ushuaia. In addition, it stopped at the port of Rio Grande (Brazil), the Argentine Antarctic bases Deception and Camara, as well as the scientific base Carlini, and the Spanish base Gabriel de Castilla.

Danailov's report stated that the ship has successfully completed its task of transporting and replacing personnel, researchers and scientists in the South Shetland Islands and South America. In addition, it provided logistical support to the 32nd Bulgarian Polar Expedition, with the crew transporting and stowing building materials and food supplies on an undeveloped shore. Research activities were carried out on board the ship through various projects.

During the voyage, the ship transported materials and food supplies in the interest of the Spanish polar programme. On January 1 this year, the crew provided aid and assistance to a vessel in distress in the approaches to the Drake Passage. The wreckage of a crashed aircraft found in the Bernard Point area was handed over to the Argentine Navy.

The crew was also involved in the clean-up of the Bulgarian Antarctic coast of metal debris. About 20 tons of cargo - depreciated barrels, batteries, power generators and other equipment - were cleared and transported.

In his report, Danailov stressed that the ship transported scientific samples from the projects carried out during the 32nd polar expedition. In addition, long-term and short-term training practices were provided to cadets from the Naval Academy in Varna. Assistance was also provided for the transportation of cargo for the Turkish Antarctic programme.

Danailov also reported that after the voyage the ship needed to undergo a planned factory refit.

During the 32nd Bulgarian expedition to Antarctica, which started on November 8, 2023, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is publishing interviews with Antarctic researchers. The Bulgaria-Antarctica BTA's Log again provides coverage of the voyage of the Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii to Antarctica and back and its stay there, as it did during the 31st expedition between December 27, 2022 and May 2, 2023. Back then, only BTA had a correspondent, Daily News Editor Konstantin Karagyozov, who covered the 127-day expedition with text, video and photos during the entire voyage (including across the Atlantic in both directions) and throughout the stay in Antarctica. In June 2023, BTA published in Bulgarian and in English an issue of its LIK magazine "To Antarctica and Back under the Bulgarian Flag" dedicated to the historic expedition. 

Again, all of BTA's information on the Bulgarian scientific research in Antarctica and the support provided by the Bulgarian naval research vessel, as well as on the other activities at the Bulgarian Antarctic Base, will be available to all media outlets in Bulgarian and in English on BTA's website in the Bulgaria - Antarctica: BTA's Log section. 

BTA has a National Press Club on board the ship and at the Bulgarian Antarctic base on Livingston Island.